The Puffer Forum

Hi,
We were going to buy a 75g but someone beat us to it. Now someone is selling a 90g full reef that is gorgeous and is at a fair price. Only we really want to have a puffer, so would we need to rehome all of the livestock to have one or two gsp's? The guy selling the set up wants the whole thing to go together, won't just sell the tank and parts.

We would seriously consider offering all the fish to a local reef club or something if this would be a great home for a puffer. Would the flow be a problem? Should we be overly concerned with all the coral?


Here is a breakdown of the contents:
Equipment
-90 gallon Marineland Cornerflo tank--stand included
-30 gallon sump
-Marineland Marine Pro Series light: 4 X 48" T-5s; 2 X 150w MH. 4 LED moonlights built in. Light can be programmed for day-night lighting
-Reef Octopus NWB-150 skimmer
-Eheim 1260 return pump
-Dual BRS reactors
-Powerheads (6 total): 3 - Hydor Koralia 1050 GPH evolutions; 1 Voyager 3; 1 Koralia One
-BRS 4-stage RODI unit
-15 gallon fresh water tank for top off w/ pump

Livestock
-Maroon (white/yellow stripe) clown
-RBTA (houses Maroon clown)
-Numerous corals: 8" beautiful yellow leather (show piece); finger leather; mushroom leather; bubble coral; green slimer; numerous assorted zoas--many colors; brain; yellow torch (5 in); green/purple frogspawn; hammer; trumpet (25 heads); some mushrooms/ricordea
-Yellow Tang (4 in)
-Coral Beauty (3.5 in)
-Green Chromis
-Black/white striped damsel
-Diadem Dottyback
-pistol shrimp/yellow watchman
-Fire Shrimp
-3 emerald crabs
-150 lbs (approx) of cured live rock--been in this tank for two years
-numerous crabs and snails

Thanks.

Hmmm... Interesting dilemma. Have you ever kept a reef before? If you are an experienced reefkeeper, then you may be able to move most everything over. The omes I'd be most concerned would be the large polyped stony corals: brain; yellow torch (5 in); green/purple frogspawn; hammer; trumpet, bubble & the small polyped stony: green slimer. The SPS have the lowest chance of survival but the slimer is pretty hardy.

If you are not experienced in keeping a reef, moving all that may result in many dead corals. Are you willing to take the chance of this happening after you put them all in & wiping everything out? You'll have to keep a very close eye on everything & keep the dying ones separated or tossed, rather than trying to save them in the chance they night die overnight. Then, there's learning what it takes to keep those corals, dosing, etc.

Your next concern is whether your puffer will taste, eat or just totally demolish all or some of the corals. The safest ones are the bad-tasting softies: leathers, mushrooms & possibly the zoanthids. Otherwise, he can really make a huge mess of that tank.

Assume all the shrimp crabs will become dinner eventually.

Oh yeah, the BIG question--How much???